Plants are periodically observed in-field to estimate their size, stage of growth, sufficiency of watering, size of fruit, presence/absence of pests or disease, or other observable traits or characteristics. In response to the in-field observation, plant treatments are recommended and executed. Typically, in-field observers are relatively highly skilled, and use specialized tools for their observations. Some techniques of in-field observation in accordance with the conventional technology are described below with reference to FIGS. 1A-1C.
FIG. 1A is a picture of an observer 20 making and recording observations in accordance with prior art technology. The observer 20 can be a farmer, a plant breeder, an agronomist, or other person possessing appropriate field observing skills. The observer 20 inspects plants 10, and records notes either in a paper notebook or an electronic device, for example, a handheld computer. However, this conventional method has limited throughput. Furthermore, even experienced human plant breeders can only understand and record a relatively small fraction of the attributes of plants in the field. Furthermore, this conventional technology often fails to capture even the readily available relevant data, for example, air temperature, time, exact location of a plant or plot of interest, etc.
FIG. 1B is a picture of a handheld tool 25 for assessing the health of plants in accordance with conventional technology. The illustrated handheld tool 25 is an optical tool that estimates attributes of the plants 10 based on the amount of light absorbed by the plants. For example, healthy plants generally absorb more light than diseased plants. Therefore, the brightness of the plants, as measured by the handheld tool 25, corresponds to the general health of the plants 10. However, the handheld tool 25 requires use of at least one hand, and accurate measurement results are predicated on a relatively precise and steady aiming of the tool.
FIG. 1C is a picture of a handheld tool 26 for measuring the content of sugar in accordance with conventional technology. In operation, fruit 48 is crushed to release juices over the handheld tool 26 (typically referred to as the “brix”). The handheld tool 26 is equipped with suitable sensors to measure the percentage of sugar in the juices that flow over the sensor. However, the illustrated handheld tool requires the use of both hands by the operator. Furthermore, relevant data may only be displayed momentarily on the display, and sometimes must be copied by hand into a paper or digital log together with the plant location and other relevant data.
Therefore, systems and methods are needed that expand the sensing capabilities and information capture of human plant breeders and field scouts.